About me

Reader. Writer. Geek.
An advertising creative by profession, I began my career as a copywriter and eventually found my way to the digital marketing world. Today, I serve as Brand Lead at Google India. Here, I work closely with our agencies to lead our marketing creative work - essentially everything you've seen from Google since 2014. And look after Doodles for India and other special Brand projects.
Being married to Saanwari, founder of PoppadumArt, one of India's top indie decor brands, makes me the CxO of her business, where the value of x changes daily. In this role, I sell behind the counter at exhibitions, lug around cartons, and look after all PoppadumArt marketing.
In my spare time, you'll find me glued to my Kindle, probably reading sci-fi, fantasy, histories, biographies and business books. I'm a huge fan of Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time, as also Asimov, Clarke, Superman and Star Wars. My other obsession includes collecting fountain pens to leave behind to any heirs I may have.

Insights on advertising and digital marketing.

Note To Self

Over the course of my eleven-odd years in advertising and digital marketing, I’ve been lucky enough to work with some of the greatest bosses one could ask for. They’ve taught me not just how to do better ads, but also about how to be a great boss. So, every now and then, I find myself recollecting – and scribbling down – their words and deeds, trying to constantly teach myself how to be a better leader. Here are some of the notes I’ve written over the years – from my bosses to myself.

First: don’t worry about the boots you’re stepping into. You’ve been hired for a reason. Either you’ll continue where your predecessor left off. Or bring a new, much-needed perspective to things.

Be happy with what you’ve inherited. Change comes later.

Not every role needs you to change things around.

Give yourself time to judge the people you’re working with. Understand them first, form opinions later.

Spend time with each of your team members in your first couple of weeks. Have several meetings – with the whole team; art; copy; ACDs; ACDs + teams. Understand how they work and what work they do. Allow them to decide how they work, so long as it isn’t too out-of-sync with the way you work.

Get to know your team at a personal level. Have those non-work conversations. Every day.

Lead by example. Don’t waste a minute of your day. Work harder, think smarter.

Remember your principles:

Every brief is an opportunity to do great work for a brand. Aim for a great idea in every piece of work that crosses your desk.

Chase perfection in execution. Every word of copy, every element of art.

Every post, every tweet, needs to be perfect. Be ready to pick fights about this.

Aim to crack a beautiful idea every time. Something that people have never seen before. Something that’ll blow their minds.

Corollary: Sometimes the simplest ideas work best.

Compromising with yourself kills greatness. If there’s even the slightest hesitation in your mind, speak up. Take work to the client only when you’re thoroughly convinced by it. You aren’t here to win a popularity contest – you’re here to do great work.

When you’re assessing work, be frank. Be honest. Be brutal. But be constructive. Your team looks to you for the solution. Provide it.

You’re in digital marketing. And more often than not, you will need to move the client along to where you are. Be ready for fights, heartbreak, disappointment and long hours. You’re getting paid to deal with that kind of shit.

Don’t get trapped in your cubicle. Get up. Move around.

Shut the lid of your computer when you’re working on something. Twitter won’t do your thinking for you.

Get out of office to brainstorm more often.

Follow your own creative process. (Below is mine.)

Re-read the brief.

Do some research online. Soak in the world of the brief.

Make the words collide. Don’t stop making the words collide.

Refer to the Wall Of Tech.

Think visually.

Your idea needs to make people laugh or cry or whoop or feel ashamed – basically, evoke an emotional response.